Theory of Computing
I am an Associate Editor-in-Chief of Theory of Computing, an open access journal committed to high quality, outstanding mathematical copy-editing and typesetting, and short turn-around. Copyright for Theory of Computing articles is retained by the authors, who only provide the journal the right to perpetually disseminate their article under a creative commons license. Thus Theory of Computing is unique among journals in our area, simultaneously focusing on high quality and guaranteeing free, open access.
Our community has a moral obligation to disseminate our research findings as widely and generously as possible. Historically, we have been wedded to dissemination by hardcopy, which gave rise to the (remarkably successful) model in which libraries across the world subscribed to paper journals. Journals were necessarily bound (as it were) by fiscal practicalities--after all, typesetting and printing is expensive. They protected their income stream by maintaining strict copyright ownership on the articles they published, though, of course, all scientific content and evaluation was provided for free by the scientific community. The digital age offers an obvious alternative to this model, one in which delivery is essentially free and library access is no longer a prerequisite for availability. It opens, for the first time, the possibility of a journal without subscription fees and perennial free access to its articles: Theory of Computing is such a journal.
Theory of Computing operates on zero cash flow. As with a commercial journal, scientific content and scientific review are provided to the journal for free by the academic community. When you publish with Theory of Computing or volunteer to support our efforts, you are advancing this important cause, helping to guarantee free access to high-quality research, and setting an example for your peers.